Managing Knowledge versus Managing Change

Rainy day in the Alps - time for a new post !


I recently came across Guy St. Clair's blog on the connection between KM/Knowledge Services and - what he calls the "much-discussed and much-maligned" field of change management. As I see it, one cannot go without the other! They are the proverbial two sides of the same coin.

• 'Innovation' - according to Webster meaning "the introduction of something new", according to Wikipedia derived from the latin 'innovare' = "to renew or change" (!) - may also be defined as "creation of new knowledge or insight": it is by taking a departure from the 'norm', from what others are doing or have done before, that new insights may be created.
  
• Being innovative is therefore predicated on how well you (as an organisation) manage your current knowledge BUT ALSO on your capabilities for challenging that current knowledge and come up with new knowledge/insights; i.e. for learning.
• It is in this context not enough to effectively manage one's current knowledge (incl. capturing & disseminating), since this will only sustain the current knowledge, not improve/renew it: Without (organisational and/or individual) capabilities for learning you will be unable to challenge currently held beliefs and insights (for instance when observations do not match expectations) and come up with new insights: 'Learning' is as much the un-learning of current knowledge as the learning of new knowledge !

'Learning' is therefore in many respects synonymous with 'changing', and the respective processes are very similar: where e.g. Kolb talks of Active Experimentation (= planning, applying, trying out) -> Concrete Experience (= practice) -> Reflective Observation (i.e. does the practice match the theory?) -> Abstract Conceptualisation (= developing theory, or (new) knowledge) the most basic change process involves Planning -> Doing -> Checking -> Acting.

Hence: 

• (sustainable) innovation requires effective knowledge management in combination with (organisational and individual) learning capabilities; 
• and the development of learning capabilities is in many respects the same as the development of capabilities to change.

I therefore always introduce myself as specialist in "management of knowledge, innovation and change" since these are intricately and inextricably interlinked. 



Note that many years ago the introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM - for which PDCA provides the foundation) also faced this same challenge: TQM not only required a change in operating processes, but also a change in organisational culture !